life in the eyes of the tall scottish lassie

Category Archives: Saving

So, with all this change, and knowing my travel plans have completely swung around in the opposite direction… Where the hell am I going I hear you ask?!

Well, I let me start from the beginning when I first graced the land that I’m heading for next year…

Rewinding back to 2009 when I headed off for my first ever travels to Australia, I made the decision to stop over a little longer on my way there to prevent the dreaded jet lag. Best decision I ever made, because in those 4 days I stopped in Kuala Lumpur, I fell in love with South East Asia.

Ok, I only visited one city in one country out of many in SE Asia, but it still managed to tickle my taste buds in a very intriguing way (no, not in a dirty way!), in a way that urged me to return and explore it all. Everything.

I dreamt of returning and making my way through all the diverse cultures, cities and foods. And so – Ta Da! – Here I am… finally able to live out my dream, when I was so close to living out someone elses, I can finally do what I’ve wanted to do since that fateful day back in October over two years ago :).

My plans are still being set… I’m currently flicking my through many guide books and Googling my little ass off discovering what I can get up to out there. I’ll be checking out fellow bloggers and their time in SE Asia too (if you know of any great advice out there, feel free to send links my way!).

Once SE Asia is out of my system, New Zealand will be on my list next to live/work/travel. Maybe I’ll hit up Bali if the mood takes me – who knows?! I love that the world is now my oyster… a vegetarian oyster mind you!

But I do know one thing for certain – somewhere amongst the mass of Asian delights and New Zealand heights I am most definitely revisiting where my heart was stolen in Oz – Byron Bay. From the second I arrived in this beautiful town, I loved everything about it and I couldn’t be more excited about going back there.

So stay tuned and I’ll let you walk through my journey with me. The highs, the lows, the fear, the excitement. It’s all gonna be there 🙂.

I’ve always known life is full of surprises. Just when you think you have most of it figured out, something is dropped in the ocean and creates a whole new wave of direction.

This past few weeks has proved massively changing in the life of Kerri (thats me!). My plans that I had been set on for so long were suddenly thrown off course when my relationship ended with the curly boy. And although part of me wishes it didn’t have to end so suddenly, the other half of me is realising this is perhaps what I needed – change.

A long distance relationship was something I always knew would be hard. But I tell you this now… imagine how hard it would be and times that by 100! It has to be the most difficult thing I have ever done – send me to the other side of the world anytime (!) – and I’m certainly in no rush to do long distance again! Asides from the obvious missing one another, it made me realise something, something I didn’t like. I was changing – but not in a good way.

Not a day went by without me worrying over something. No matter how small it may have been, I would worry about it. And worse still, I could feel my insecurities growing about myself. I didn’t feel as confident about myself anymore, and the stress was killing me. I tried so hard to be positive; telling myself we’ve got this far we can keep going, thinking of our travels together, knowing it would’nt always be this difficult… but nothing would work.

So when ‘we’ were over, and I know this makes me seem insensitive, but I felt something was lifted off my shoulders. Now I could think about me, and only me. When I’m in a relationship, I always think of the other person, or us. But for once I could now be selfish. And I’ve felt more than ever that now I’m looking on things in a much more positive way. And I couldn’t love that more.

Even though my travel plans have made a complete U-turn, and I’m scared of travelling alone with my lack of confidence, I’m still pushing myself to be positive. I want to do this for me. I want to get out there and push myself to speak to fellow travellers and explore the world to the max. I need to do this. If anything, I think this is why this happened… Someone out there is telling me I need that kick up the backside to be a more positive confident girl!

Sometimes change can be a petrifying thing. Hell, I am petrified! I can’t wait to travel, and I’m so excited for everything I’m going to see/hear/taste, but there is a huge element of fear deep inside shouting at me “What the hell are you doing woman?!”

I just know that this change is all for the best. For me, and for him.

And so… my new travel plans will commence, and the change in me is already building. In a cheesy sort of way (a nice cheese… none of that parmesan crap!) , I can see myself being someone I can live with! After all, if I don’t like who I am, how do I expect someone else to like me?! So stay tuned… my blog will come back to life again… with my travel plans being explored, tickets being booked, blog concepts coming to life and this little lady finding herself once again :).

Has anyone else had a sudden change in their life and found the positive side to it? I’d love to hear some stories :).

I’ve come to realise more than ever in these past few months that time is either at a standstill when I want it to be speeding up, or its flying by when I want to savour those precious hours.

I’ve found myself saying those dreaded words that the older I’m getting the faster these years are going past me. Even though I’ve been travelling and still intend to – it still feels like I’m standing still and the train of Time is speeding past without picking me up.

But I’ve especially noticed in the past few months or so how important time really is.

In matters of wishing my time away – since I stepped back onto UK soil after my year away in Australia – I’ve been looking ahead for my next journey. Wondering where and more importantly when it’ll begin, praying for the days to flow by so I can get on a plane again and explore just that little bit more.

When I arrived home back in October of 2010, the dread that filled me knowing I’d have to stay in the country for a year at least killed me! But when I looked back over my shoulder at my year in Australia, it made me realise… those 365 days will be gone in no time.

Even though I think about Australia every day, I still have to remind myself that I was actually there. Not because it felt like a dream come true – mostly for the fact it almost lasted the length of a dream I have while I’m asleep! One minute I’m trekking through the Outback, riding on camels, tasting wine in the Borossa Valley, the next minute I’m leaving Byron Bay for the final month of my trip squeezing in as much as possible before my visa (and money) run out!

Before I knew it – I had left the country I had fallen in love with after 12 months, and my boyfriend who I had spent 10 months of my trip with was now on the other side of the UK! So not only was I wishing the days away to go travelling again, I also had the added wait to see my boyfriend again… whenever that may be.

And this is when I realised how much I wanted time to slow down – the very little time me and the curly boy have together just isn’t enough! I find myself counting down the weeks till we’re together just so I can get in his arms – only for those few days to disappear in the blink of an eye. Suddenly I’m home again and wondering if I did get that hug!

I can’t make up my mind!

You may (or possibley not) of noticed that I havent blogged for the whole of August this year. Mainly due to the fact that I felt like having a break from writing, just chill and not think of something remotely interesting to blog about! I’m more of a quality over quantity girl 😉

And guess what? August FLEW past!

In two days it’ll be September, and so the descent into winter begins and the year will slowly come to its last days… or maybe it’ll go fast? Who knows! Time will come and go as it pleases after all.

In the next few months I’ll be purchasing my RTW ticket with the curly boy, and my countdown will officially begin for jumping on that plane. The countdown to Christmas will also be just round the corner and at some point before then we’ll all be dressing up on that eventful night and no doubt getting drunk with some spooky concoction of alcohol!

But in the meantime I may as well savour these moments; the countdowns, the saving, the Skype nights with the boy, the feeling that I’ll never get on the road again… cause at the end of those long long days I’ll soon be calling myself an OAP and the confusion of where that Time disappeared off to will hit me even more.

A thought occurred to me while I was talking about future travel plans with Chris the other day. A thought that never crossed my mind, till I considered all the money I’m saving from my monthly pay cheque towards hitting the road again.

What would I be doing right now if I weren’t planning my RTW?

Out of all the questions that could be asked, this one really stumped me for answers. I couldn’t think what on earth I would be doing if I didn’t have the travel itch. If I wasn’t saving every last pound for my travels, what would I be spending that money on?!

Every month I put aside as much money from my pay as physically possible. My savings account is building and it gets me so excited for what’s to come. All the places I’ll see, faces I’ll pass or meet, and footsteps I’ll leave behind as I work my way around the world. There’s nothing else, at this moment in time, which I would rather be doing.

But what if things were different? I guess I would need to look back to where the Travel Bug first nestled itself in my brain and began my journey – in the summer of 2008. ‘08 was a crazy year for me, crazy in a good and bad way. I’ll give you in the gist;

I was turning 21 – Yay!

I was graduating from 3 years of college – Yay!

I had my final Fashion Show (big stressful event!) – Yay…ish

My boyfriend dumped me – Noo!

And finally I was starting Uni – Yay….?!

Might I just add… all of these bar the latter subject of Uni happened in the month of June. So you could say June 2008 is where it all began. I had just finished 3 amazing years at college and my Aussie boyfriend decided he wasn’t ready for a relationship… and if I’m honest, it was his decision to end things that triggered me to get up and go.

My urge for a Uni degree disappeared and my urge to travel blossomed.

But if he hadn’t of dumped me – would I have stayed with Uni? Well yeah, probably. He told me he loved me, and I loved him. Looking back I remember saying I was more than happy to stay here in my hometown and be with him. Which would mean by now I would’ve just graduated (hopefully!) from Uni and have to think what to do with the rest of my life from here on out!

In which case I’d probably find myself a full time job to pay for some kind of accommodation – overpriced of course – and get by like everybody else, paying bills, complaining about aforementioned bills and the lovely weather we’ve been having and of course not forgetting those little 2 week holidays here and there.

That thought makes me shudder with dread!

Of course, at some point I might actually have to join the brigade of 9-5 jobs and mortgages, but thankfully for now I’ve delayed this nightmare to pursue my dream while the iron is still hot. It’s all been fate. Fate that I met this boy, fate that he dumped me, fate that I discovered the world of travel and fate that I’m still doing it!!

So, I guess what I’m trying to say here is – thanks. Thanks to Bob* for dumping me. If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have done half the shit I had done in the past 3 years and I certainly wouldn’t be planning yet another trip with my curly headed surfer. You did me an awesome favour 🙂

And I certainly wouldn’t of visited my favourite place in the world – Byron Bay 🙂

I always think the fun of travelling starts even before you get on the plane.

I don’t know if this is just me, but I just LOVE saving money for travelling! It’s possibly the whole idea of the massive treats I’m gonna get at the end. I suppose in some ways it’s like a little girl saving up for the dress she wants for the big dance – for me it’s saving up for the experiences and sights I’ll catch across the world.